Re:Ask HN: Are Paul Graham's Classic Startup Essays Outdated?
by shanebellone on Saturday February 11, 2023 @11:17AM
(#34753621)
As admittedly pedantic as it is... any product that scales to billions of users is really a commodity in disguise.
Take social media as an example: It's essentially "attention arbitrage." The raw material is our attention, and the output is their profit. They've built an economic engine by piping excess attention directly to the highest bidder.
Also, can you really compare utility in terms of scale? Is it better to improve 1,000,000 lives 50% or 1,000,000,000 lives 1%?
Take social media as an example: It's essentially "attention arbitrage." The raw material is our attention, and the output is their profit. They've built an economic engine by piping excess attention directly to the highest bidder.
Also, can you really compare utility in terms of scale? Is it better to improve 1,000,000 lives 50% or 1,000,000,000 lives 1%?